Survey confirms nobody's using Spotify for the audiobooks

Last week, I wrote about how Spotify’s non-music ventures are putting me off the app. The streamer just raised prices (again), right after opening a high-end podcast studio in Hollywood and just as it announced a strange new book-selling project. I come to Spotify for music, so none of that really speaks to me. I was curious how you all use the app — and it turns out, most of you are only there for the music, too.

Nearly 4,000 Android Authority readers voted in a poll about Spotify usage habits. There were four options: one for people who listen to podcasts on Spotify, one for people who listen to audiobooks, one for people who consume both, and one for people who only use Spotify to listen to music. More than two thirds of respondents said they only listen to music, which I assume means they’re not very happy about the latest price hike, either.

The second-largest portion of voters, with a total of 917 votes or just over 23 percent, said they listen to podcasts through the Spotify app. Some listeners use the app to listen to both podcasts and audiobooks, with 214 readers picking that option, about five percent of the total.

The smallest share of votes came from Spotify users who use the streaming platform to listen to audiobooks, but not podcasts — that option nabbed 122 votes, or about three percent of the total votes we received.

From a business perspective, you could take that to mean Spotify has a lot of room to grow in the audiobook space, hence new features like Page Match and the accompanying partnership with Bookshop.org. But judging by our numbers, the streamer’s going to have to do more to justify rising costs to the majority of users.